The Sims Online: Ronald, the P4 and Hamburglar, together in an unholy trinity

EA Games has inked a deal with McDonald's and Intel that will see the three entities working together to promote The Sims Online. In particular, the deal affords McD and Intel with in-game advertising placement.

Detailed terms of EA's multimillion-dollar deal were not available but it will allow Intel's familiar jingle, its product logo, and computers using its Pentium 4 processor to appear in the game. Players in the game also will be able to buy a McDonald's kiosk and sell the company's branded food products, earning "simoleans," the game's currency. Eating that food will also improve their standing within the game.

A "real life simulator," eh? This kind of advertising isn't necessarily new, nor guaranteed to work. TV and movie placement has had questionable results from what I've read, while the 'net is getting more and more popular. I recently read (offline) that according to a report from Arbitron and Edison Media Research, 20% of people in the US consider the 'net as "essential" to their lives, while 39% would rate TV as such. Whether or not those same 'net users want to open up a virtual McDonalds is anyone's guess, but if I had to put money down, I'd say that less in-your-face strategies would be more effective.

Ken Fisher / Ken is the founder & Editor-in-Chief of Ars Technica. A veteran of the IT industry and a scholar of antiquity, Ken studies the emergence of intellectual property regimes and their effects on culture and innovation.